Ryan Howes PhD, ABPP

In Therapy
Cool Intervention #4: Sandplay
10CTI: No sunscreen or flip-flops necessary
Posted Feb 03, 2010
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It's no a day at the beach. Sure, there's sand, water and what appear to be toys
, but this technique is serious business. So serious and intriguing that it qual
ifies as one of the Ten Coolest Therapy Interventions.
In 1928, a London psychiatrist named Margaret Lowenfeld opened the "Clinic for N
ervous and Difficult Children" (thankfully renamed "Institute for Child Psycholo
gy"), where she used toys, art supplies, rubber bands and bowls of water in her
therapy. She taught her techniques to a Swiss therapist named Dora M. Kalff, who
integrated Lowenfeld's work with her own Jungian training and Buddhist philosop
hy to create sandplay. According to Kalff (1980, p. 30):
Sandplay therapy can establish an inner peace which contains the potential for d
evelopment of the total personality, including its intellectual and spiritual as
pects...It is the role of the therapist to perceive these powers and, like the g
uardian of a precious treasure, protect them in their development.
I'm honored to be joined by Dr. Barbara Turner, author of The Handbook of Sandpl
ay Therapy in addition to several articles and book chapters. Dr. Turner studied
with Kalff in Switzerland and has over twenty years experience in the field. Sh
e is Director of Publishing at Temenos Press, which published a new edition of K
alff's foundational work, Sandplay: A Psychotherapeutic Approach to the Psyche a
nd H.G. Wells' Floor Games: A Father's Account of Play and Its Legacy of Healing
.
As stated in the introduction, all these techniques (with the exception of #6 Th
e Hunger Illusion!) should be conducted only by clinicians with sufficient train
ing. Having said that, enjoy Dr. Turner's wisdom regarding this cool interventio
n:
1. When would a clinician use sandplay?
Sandplay stems from the work of British physician, Margaret Lowenfeld (1939), wh
o developed the "World Technique" as a means of communicating non-verbally with
children in treatment. The late Jungian therapist, Dora M. Kalff of Switzerland
developed what she termed, "sandplay" for use in Jungian therapy.
2. What does it look like?
The sandplay method consists of the psychotherapy client's creation of a three-d
imensional picture with miniature figures in a tray of sand in the protective pr
esence of a trained practitioner. The sand tray is 28 1/2 inches long by 19 1/2
inches wide and 3 inches deep. The sides and bottom of the inside of the sand tr
ay are colored light blue. By moving the sand aside, the blue coloration can be
used to represent areas of water in the sandy landscape. Real water can be added
to the sand to make it adaptable to being shaped and sculpted. Miniature figure
s representing all aspects of life and fantasy are arranged on shelves near the
sand tray. A wide variety of building materials out of which the client can fash
ion needed items is also available.
3. How does it help the client?
The client is encouraged by the therapist to make whatever he or she likes in th
e sand tray and is given no further instructions. The remarkable feature of sand
play is that, as the client fashions and moves the figures in the trays, his or
her psyche concurrently moves into new and healthier configurations. This takes
place with no intermediary. Instead it is a direct link of psyche, or brain patt
erns to three dimensional figures that "write" and "re-write" its configuration
to healthier, fuller functioning. I know of no other treatment modality that wor
ks with this immediacy with the brain and mind.
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As the client works in the sand tray the therapist sits nearby making note of wh
at figures the client uses and what the client says, or does, if anything. The t
herapist sketches or "maps" a diagram of the sand tray for future. Although no i
nterpretation is made with the client at the time of the production of the sand
tray, it is very important that the therapist develops an understanding of what
is transpiring in the client's sandplay process. The strength of the sandplay me
thod is commensurate with the therapist's capacity to safely hold the client's e
merging unconscious content. The therapist experiences the client's emerging sym
bolic material in a pre-verbal right hemispheric manner. Through right hemispher
e to right hemisphere mirror neuron communication the therapist's training, unde
rstanding of symbolic process, and his or her personal experience of intrapsychi
c work at the depths of inner development acknowledge and support the client's a
bility to bring the newly emerging material to consciousness. Although sandplay
appears simple at first glance, it requires extensive training to practice appro
priately. Clients should look for certification of their potential sandplay ther
apists by the Sandplay Therapists of America (www.sandplay.org)
4. In your opinion, what makes sandplay a cool intervention?
Sandplay is a wonderful treatment modality for children, because it takes place
in the child's own natural language of symbols. The power of sandplay for adults
is that it by-passes both the client's and the therapist's limited capacities t
o understand and/or bring about profound intrapsychic change.

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About the Author
Ryan Howes
Ryan Howes, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist, writer, musician and professor at
Fuller Graduate School of Psychology in Pasadena, California.

In Print: What Wives Wish their Husbands Knew about Sex: A Guide for Christian
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